Director, Culinary Innovation & Sourcing

Circle K is a leading convenience store chain with a strong commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction. As a global brand, Circle K operates thousands of stores worldwide, offering a wide range of products and services designed to meet the fast-paced needs of modern consumers. Known for its accessible and convenient shopping experience, Circle K emphasizes quality, variety, and customer service in every aspect of its operations. The company invests heavily in culinary innovation to enhance its prepared foods, fresh foods, and quick-service restaurant (QSR) offerings, helping to set it apart in the competitive retail food industry. Circle K’s work environment is dynamic and fast-moving, attracting professionals who are passionate about food, innovation, and operational excellence.

The role of Director of Culinary Innovation & Sourcing at Circle K is a key leadership position responsible for defining and delivering the company’s culinary vision across the Foodservice categories, including Prepared Foods, Fresh Foods, and QSR-adjacent offerings. This position plays a critical role in spearheading culinary innovation, developing new recipes and products, as well as managing ingredient sourcing strategies to ensure Circle K delivers differentiated, high-quality, and operationally feasible food programs on a large scale. The Director will work closely with multiple internal departments including Food category leadership, Quality Assurance, Procurement, Supply Chain, and Operations to bring new food concepts from initial ideation through to commercialization. Importantly, the role demands maintaining rigorous standards related to food safety, quality, and consistency throughout all stages of product development and sourcing.

The Director of Culinary Innovation & Sourcing will lead strategic efforts to identify emerging culinary trends and translate them into scalable, consumer-relevant food offers. This leadership role also entails overseeing all facets of product development including the creation and standardization of recipes, specifications, preparation methodologies, and ensuring that products achieve taste, cost, shelf-life, and execution performance expectations. Another significant area of responsibility is collaborating with suppliers to define ingredient sourcing strategies, support reformulation and innovation efforts, and contribute to cost optimization without compromising culinary integrity.

Cross-functional collaboration is pivotal to success in this role, partnering with Category, Training, and Operations teams to develop preparation guides, training materials, conduct product testing and phased rollouts, while also conducting field visits to validate the quality and execution of food products in-market. Ensuring compliance with food safety regulations such as FSQA and HACCP is a foundational element, requiring close coordination with Quality Assurance teams to embed safety and quality standards into culinary innovation and sourcing processes.

This position requires a seasoned culinary professional with a minimum of eight years of experience in culinary innovation, product development, or food sourcing, ideally with a background in multi-unit foodservice, QSR, retail food, or consumer packaged goods (CPG) environments. The successful candidate will possess strong communication, presentation, and cross-functional collaboration skills, with a willingness to travel up to 60% to oversee projects and supplier partnerships. A culinary degree or food science background, experience working with national or global food manufacturers, and familiarity with food safety audits and regulatory frameworks are preferred but not mandatory. Circle K offers the opportunity to impact the culinary direction of a globally recognized brand and drive innovation that delights customers and supports operational scalability.